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Archive for December, 2009

I was going to do one of those wrapping up the old year blogs with photos of all my work, but you know where to go if you want to see my work. Instead, I had a frenzied cleaning up session down in my studio. I want to hit the ground running tomorrow. I have so many deadlines looming and a big trip at the end of January which will allow hand work, only.

I walked into my studio this afternoon and wondered where I was!! It looks great. I just had to get out some indigo and make a Once in a Blue Moon piece. It was a quicky – took about half and hour.

Laura Wasilowsky was offering a pair of hand-dyed socks with an order from her website. My order came today and I was struck at how the colors are the same as the new Kleenex packets that I bought yesterday.

I am feeling so happy about my energy level and state of mind and really looking forward to the new year and the new decade. I cannot say that the past year was bad. It was a great year in so many ways.

In January, I had my first solo show and sold 5 pieces right at the get go. In March, I took a shibori class from Jan Newberry Meyers. April was the opening of the High Fiber Diet Line Dancing Show in Roseburg, OR. In May, I went to Kansas City for the SDA conference and got to hang out with my good friend Judy C and Scooter joined our family. June was rather low key – not much going on.

I finally got back to work in the studio after a drought and made Illuminated Aspens for Kristen. In August, I had my 1000th blog post. September was jam packed with activity. Laura Cater-Woods was in town. We had 3 days of family celebration for Mark and Jayme. And of course, we lost our beloved Maggie. In November, I did Art Every Day for a Month and had a ball. I started the Drawing with Expression book and plan to pick that up again. In December, I was honored to have my work reviewed on The Textile Blog and John Hopper helped me understand my work in a new way.

I managed to get into a couple of shows this year, but it was not a great year. I hope to change that this year, but I make work that I love. I do not make work for shows. I enter what I have done and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

OK, I didn’t intend to go on and on about 2009. I just want to thank all my readers for stopping by and to wish you a Happy New Year and a Happy New Decade.

M & M came over this morning while their parents were doing some errands. There was still enough snow for some play time. In fact, Mia announced when she arrived that we had not played in our snow, yet, because there were no foot prints.

I am enjoying a few days with nothing I have to do. Much of my time in the last couple of days has been spent writing a rough draft of my chapter for the Twelve X Twelve book. It is about my chair piece which has several different surface design techniques. I finished the rough draft with 1500 words. I need to come up with 500 more.

The photo is of some red tulips that I bought for our Christmas celebration. They have been a bright spot on the counter between the kitchen and the dining room.

I am planning to work on my studio and get it in shape to get some work done for looming deadlines. I need to have it neat to take some photos for the book.

So, that is life here in the slow lane, in case you were wondering what I have been doing.

Oh my goodness, she looks so grown up! It is boxing day and I thought I should post some Christmas eve photos. We went to Stephanie’s home and it was delightful. She made a delicious rustic shrimp soup with potatoes and Andouille sausage.

Steamed artichokes were enjoyed before the soup. One of Mia’s favorite foods.

The first photo is Mia in her new Jammies and strumming the guitar that we gave her along with 6 private lessons.

The floor under Steph’s tree was piled with gifts. Some of them were left to be opened on Christmas day.

Here is Miles in his new Jammies and the Walkie-Talkie we gave him. He brought it with him yesterday. We use it to send him on secret missions – keeps him busy!!

I finally got a photo of his two missing teeth.

A scene in Steph’s living room.

The goodies we enjoyed after dinner, provided by Mr C and I. The food pantry sold boxes of beautiful Holiday cookies as a fund raiser. I made fudge brownies and mini-cheesecakes. One of Steph’s friends gifted her with cashew brittle and nougat.

One of my favorite gifts is this painting of Maggie that Lisa did for us. This is from a photo when we still lived in North Carolina.

Yesterday, I made dinner for the family and we enjoyed playing some games in the afternoon. I neglected to take any photos. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones.

Now, it is time to do some planning and list making for all that awaits me in the new year.

Since I do not have a house full of company and I am not doing a fancy party for 50 people, I do not have a lot of cooking and baking to do this year. I do love to do holiday baking so I decided to make some of my Christmas coffee cakes to share with the neighbors.

Back in my Earth Mother days when I wore a bandanna on my head and bell bottom jeans, I used to make breads and coffee cakes to sell in a local store in Los Gatos, CA. I altered a yeast coffee cake recipe to make it more healthy (well, sort of). I use half whole wheat flour.

After the dough rises, I roll out a rectangle and slather with butter, cinnamon, sugar, cranberries, raisins and walnuts. I roll it up and slice and arrange the slices into a Christmas tree shape. I made four of these.

After they baked, I went out to join the throngs doing their last minute shopping. I don’t know why, but I do enjoy the thrill of the last minute dash.

When I got home, I found that Scooter had helped himself to some of the rolls from two of the trees. Mr C fell asleep after my very stern warning that I did not have a safe high place for four pans to cool. I was more than a little upset. So, only two neighbors are getting goodies.

I am doing Christmas dinner and Steph is doing Christmas eve. I have my menu and shopping list ready and will run to the market early in the morning. I have some gifts to wrap and desserts for Friday to prepare. Oh, I must make the requisite mint brownies for tomorrow night.

I probably won’t post tomorrow, but who knows? I wish all of you the happiest of holidays. Eat, drink and be merry!